This invention relates to finger guards affixed to bow strings to cushion the fingers of an archer against undue localized pressure by the strings.
When an archer draws a bow string, forces of up to 100 pounds or more are distributed over a surface of the fingers having an area of less than one-half square inch. In order to cushion the fingers against undue localized pressure in this situation, sleeve-like guards fitting over the string are used to spread the applied force over a greater area of the fingers. However, such finger guards of the prior art suffer from one or more disadvantages making them less than completely suitable for their intended purpose.
For example, two commercially available finger guards each include a pair of cylindrical shells adapted to fit over a bow string. Each shell is formed with a small annular radially extending projection of an end of the shell adjacent the nock receiving portion of the bow string. While these small annular projections do afford some protection to the fingers when only small forces are applied to the string, distortion of the guard accompanying application of forces of 100 pounds or more often allows the fingers to be pinched between the nock end of the arrow and the string.
In the prior art finger guards are fastened at fixed positions on the bow string without causing permanent damage to the string. The string indexing devices described in U.S. Pat. No. 3,340,862 may be fastened to the string at two spaced locations with the sleeves placed between upper and lower string indexing devices. However, when very large forces are applied to the flexible cylindrical shells of the finger guard, the shells tend to slide over the indexing devices.